My bridal shower weekend was a whole lot of fun packed into a few days this June. Ian and I drove up to Syracuse Thursday night so we could get some wedding stuff done on Friday. When you plan a wedding long distance you have to pack a lot in when you can and also rely on those that are there to help a lot – thanks Mom & Dad.

My Mom and I figured why not kick the weekend off with a practice run for manis and pedis because well, why not?! I also did a trial run for my hair and picked my dress up from the tailor for my final fitting.

Since my brother was also getting married over the summer, my Mom threw a joint shower for my sister-in-law and me, which was perfect. Neither of us are great at being the center of attention so it took a bit of pressure off to be able to share the day! I’m sure our guests who would have been invited to both also appreciated the combined event!

The shower was at the Palace Theatre in Syracuse. A very cool venue that unfortunately is very poorly managed. They realized two days before that they had double-booked the room our shower was in. Seeing as the other event was a wedding reception they asked us to move to a smaller room. My Mom took things in stride though, and while a bit cozier, the front room worked out just great.

To make up for the mistake they did offer us an open bar though, which we did our best to take advantage of and also invited the guys to make an appearance at the end to help out with that. 🙂 Their service day of was also fantastic as well, not to mention the food was great too, easing our frustrations with them. They also put our names on the marquee, which was very cool!

The decorations made the room. My Mom printed off pictures of Dan & Adrienne and Ian & me and spread them around the room. My Mother-in-law came up with an idea for potted gerbera daisies as centerpieces, which we surrounded by homemade jams that she made, which doubled as yummy favors for our guests! (I may have taken several home too!) She also added a few other nice touches to the room including an umbrella raining hearts as a play on the invitation I had designed.

Bridal shower games are not my cup of tea so we passed on those giving us plenty of time to mingle before lunch and presents. I couldn’t believe how generous everyone was. Adrienne made the comment of the day after we finally finished opening up presents and she no longer had to sit in front of everyone. She said after seeing me on several Christmas mornings she was really disappointed in how politely and slowly I opened all the gifts since she was sure we would be done in a few minutes!  I’m a bit of a terror/little kid on Christmas morning and if you don’t go quick enough I will start to help you open your gifts too!!

For dessert, we had half moon cookies from Wegmans. Half were frosted in blue and pink and the other half in blue and orange to match our wedding colors. My sister-in-law Britt also made us S shaped cookies too, which were a hit with everyone! We finished up a great afternoon with a few more drinks and laughs before the guys made their appearance.

We wrapped up the weekend the best way we know how – dinner with family and friends at Mulligans. My family has been going to this bar/restaurant for more years than I can remember and my parents make at least one stop there a week still, so it’s pretty much like eating at home! Times like these are also our only chance to get a peak at the menus since they’ve long since stopped giving them to us!

It was such a fun weekend. Can’t beat making great memories with family and friends who feel like family!